Gravity Well is a new video game studio formed by Drew McCoy and Jon “Slothy” Shiring, who started working together at Infinity Ward over 14 years ago before moving on to help found Respawn Entertainment. Their resume is quite impressive and includes iconic games such as Modern Warfare, Titanfall, and Apex Legends. Since Gravity Well was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, the dynamic duo started the studio working remotely. This “remote native’” business model is a concept the team will continue to employ. This freedom will allow the guys to assemble a diverse team that will not be hindered by relocation or work visa issues. In the words of Shiring himself, “We want to hire the best talent in the industry, regardless of where you live.”

Gravity Well aims to shake up AAA development with daring new projects designed for next-gen hardware including the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Their goal is to create these epic games with a smaller team of about 80-85 employees. Drew and Jon feel that once the team size reaches 100, things move slower and creativity becomes stifled. Everyone at Gravity Well will have creative freedom with team health being a top priority, which means Gravity Well will be an anti-crunch company.

We are starting a studio because of how we want to make games. We want time to iterate on everything and get ideas and feedback from the entire team. We're building this studio to last for decades, and that doesn't happen without putting the team first. - Drew McCoy

Although remote development will be a unique part of working at Gravity Well, they still plan to set up a home base in Los Angeles and will start looking for an office after the pandemic subsides. Currently, their website has job listings for a few typical positions like QA, Animation, and Art, but also has a Not Listed category that challenges potential employees to create their own position and pitch it.

I imagine it will be a good while before we hear what Gravity Well has in store for gamers, but it’s exciting knowing these two have joined forces. Next-gen just got even more interesting.